192

UENTIN TARANTINO: “So Margot, I’m asking

this out of my edification; I’m very curious. How

does someone who has established a career as an

actor in another country, in this case Australia,

decide to move to America and try to conceivably

work in Hollywood? Because it’s really hard to

do. Are you even an American citizen?”

MARGOT ROBBIE: “I have a working visa and

I’m an American resident. But it does boggle my

mind. It’s not something I ever dreamed of doing,

because it was so unrealistic.”

QT: “I don’t know about you, but for me, the

minute I could even remotely make a living as a writer [in Hollywood]

it was like: ‘Oh my god, this is a dream come true!’” (Laughs)

MR: “I definitely had that moment. I got on Neighbours and I thought

that in itself was the biggest thing that was ever going to happen to me.

I remember looking around the green room of 30 cast members and

asking everyone over the first few weeks whether they had other jobs,

and they were like: ‘This is the only job I have.’ And I was like: ‘But

you’ve got kids, right? You can put them through school and you can

buy a house just from acting?’ That was a crucial moment where it was:

‘Right, I can make a living out of this.’ Then a few months after being on

Neighbours, I witnessed a couple of cast members my age making that

transition to LA after finishing up their contracts. I remember thinking:

‘Okay, now I have the lay of the land I have three options. One, I get

fired because I’m not good enough. Two, I am good enough and I get to

stay on Neighbours for 20 years and what an amazing life that would be.

Or three, I take the gamble and make the jump over to America and try

my luck in Hollywood. So about six months in I made the decision and

started saving money and learning the American dialect. You’ve met

me with my Australian accent now, but my Australian accent as it was

then was very, very Australian.”

QT: “A XXXX Aussie accent!” (Laughs)

MR: “I am a Queenslander, and my accent was so Australian that

Neighbours hired a dialect coach to make me sound less Australian. So

that was all part of the process of moving to America. Before that the

idea of being in Hollywood, I did think you had to be born into it or had

to know someone in the industry.”

QT: “Was the TV show Pan Am the first big: ‘Oh wow, I’ve landed

something?’”

MR: “Yeah. During my three years on Neighbours I’d gotten a proper

agent, Aran Michael, and he started helping me when I said I wanted to

make the move. Every year I’d say: ‘Aran, I need to get to America, I’m

getting too old. I’m going to miss my opportunity.’ I was 18. For some

reason Dakota Fanning was the standard in my head. I’d say: ‘Do you

know how many films Dakota Fanning has done by now? And she’s

younger than me!’ But he was like: ‘No, we’ve got to time this so you get

over there in advance of pilot season, meet with American managers,

then come back in January to hit the ground running.’ You only get the

chance to be brand-new once, so five days after October 22, which was

when my Neighbours contract ended, I came over.”

QT: “So you landed a pilot on your first go around?”

MR: “Well, while I was over here meeting with managers I was asked

to do a quick audition, because someone was redoing Charlie’s Angels for

TV. I wasn’t ready to audition until January so I was a bit thrown, but

I did it then went back to Australia. They flew me over to do a tester in

January and I didn’t get it, but they said they had another TV show

called Pan Am they thought I’d be better for.”

Q

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